Development of a New Barrier Membrane for Guided Bone Regeneration: an in Vitro and in Vivo Study

Abstract

Obtaining better outcomes from guided bone regeneration techniques often re-quires the use of ideal membranes. The objective of this study was to develop a novel membrane and investigate its contribution to the enhancement of bone regeneration.
The membrane was fabricated by combining β-TCP particles with dissolved gelatin hydrogel and cross-linking molecules with glutaraldehyde.
Rat bone-marrow cultured on this gelatin membrane for 14 days revealed time-dependent cell proliferation and the presence of alkaline-phosphatase-positive cells as well as that on a collagen membrane. Histological analysis indicated that significantly more new bone volume was generated in symmetrical full-thickness bone defects of rat calvariae covered by the gelatin membrane compared to that of the uncovered control defects at 4 and 8 weeks post operation.
The present study demonstrates that the novel β-TCP-containing gelatin hydrogel membrane stimulates bone regeneration. These results suggest the feasibility of this novel membrane for use in guided bone regeneration.